BRADNER: Paul Ryan gets to the heart of differences between Democrats, Republicans

INDIANAPOLIS - If there's one question that has gotten directly to the heart of the differences between Democrats and Republicans in recent years, it's how they feel about Paul Ryan.

Over more than a year's worth of campaigns, Democratic candidates have been working as hard as they can to tie just about every Republican in the Hoosier State to Ryan.

Republicans, meanwhile, have praised him, with the Indiana Republican Party even inviting him to speak at a major event — its 2011 fall dinner.

Both sides got what they wanted Saturday when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tapped Ryan as his running mate.

Their different views of the man start with this: In 2010, Ryan proposed a major plan to reduce the deficit in part by converting Medicare to a system in which those under 55 would instead be given vouchers to purchase private insurance.

Democrats see the fiscal measures pushed by the Republican congressman from Wisconsin as toxic, and his party mates who voted for them or announced support for them as vulnerable to the charge that they'd radically alter America's safety nets.

Republicans here prefer basing their campaigns on opposing President Barack Obama, but have pointed to their recent electoral success as clear evidence that voters understand the unique challenges facing the nation, and want action along the lines of what Ryan has suggested.

Now, the battle between two vastly different ideologies and visions for the country will be waged from the top to the bottom of the ticket.

The first test in Indiana is for the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, and the 8th District U.S. House hopeful, former state Rep. Dave Crooks.

They've been saying for months that electing their Republican opponents — state Treasurer Richard Mourdock in the U.S. Senate race and 8th District U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon — would advance a national Republican agenda to revamp safety-net programs.

How focused on these issues have they been? About three-fourths of the public statements Crooks has put out have focused on Medicare.

Those that haven't explicitly been about Medicare — for example, statements on fundraising and other campaign developments — he's used to try to highlight the issue. Like this one, from April's campaign finance reporting deadline:

"It's clear that 8th District residents will not tolerate Congressman Buschon's budget priorities, an agenda that ends the Medicare guarantee and slashes investments critical to growing the economy, in order to give more tax cuts to multimillionaires and to corporations that ship American jobs overseas."

Mourdock and Bucshon are in sync with the national Republican Party — evidenced by Ryan's selection for vice president — when they say changes even to sacred cows are necessary to steer the United States away from a fiscal cliff.

"Doing nothing is not an option," Bucshon's spokesman said back in 2011, pointing to Ryan's budget as one that would strengthen Medicare down the road.

Democrats now they have to put their positions to work — and on Saturday, there was evidence their supporters were already trying to do so.

"The Republican budget is now Congressman Bucshon's running mate as he must defend the indefensible — more tax cuts for millionaires and higher health care bills for seniors on Medicare," said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Jesse Ferguson.

"Even Republicans admit that Ryan plan hurts Medicare for seniors" was the subject line of an email from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, pointing to a television advertisement that had run in Montana.

Mourdock and Bucshon will counter by saying they consider voters smart enough to appreciate efforts at bold action, and to reject demagoguery.

They'll accuse Democrats of failing to offer serious alternatives, but they'll also have to avoid losing too many voters who do understand just what Ryan's offering and what they've supported, and simply don't like it.